‘Threats compounding, multilateralism declining’: Ajit Doval warns Brics allies about security challenges

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval opened the 16th Brics National Security Advisers’ Meeting on Tuesday with a warning about the fraying state of global diplomacy.

Addressing top security officials from across the expanded bloc, Doval asserted that traditional international institutions are failing to mitigate a rising tide of global volatility.

"We are meeting at a very tumultuous time," Doval stated during his opening remarks.

"The world is beleaguered by military conflicts and complex security problems. It is facing geopolitical uncertainties, economic strains, and disruptive technology. Not only that the threats are compounding, but the instruments and institutional mechanisms are increasingly finding themselves to be inadequate to resolve or mitigate these conflicts. Multilateralism is on the decline," he said.

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A grouping of diverse experiences

The summit brings together powerful defence and foreign policy chiefs from different continents. Doval highlighted the unique composition of the alliance, which brings together countries with highly diverse backgrounds to address a world seemingly in flux.

"We are here from different continents, from different areas, and it's a grouping where we bring with us very diverse experiences," Doval noted. "We have got a very special role to play in this world, which appears to be in turmoil, a world which appears to be changing, a world in which the instruments of conflict resolutions are probably getting blunted. What role we as a grouping can play is a matter that is important for us to ponder."

Doval reminded the delegates that Brics was originally conceived as an informal grouping of emerging economies to foster a more multipolar world order, advance economic cooperation, and strengthen the voice of the Global South through global governance reforms.

Focus on non-traditional and tech-driven threats

Operating under a heavy focus on contemporary vulnerabilities, the New Delhi sessions shifted attention from conventional military standoffs toward asymmetric, borderless threats that render standard defence mechanisms ineffective.

Doval urged the member states to adapt quickly to these evolving risks, which will anchor the collective deliberations at the summit.

"We need to be cognizant of the new security threats and challenges," Doval emphasised. "Non-traditional threats have transcended national borders and have developed defeat systems against conventional responses. Innovative disruptive technologies, more camouflaged variants of terrorism, cyber threats, in a world [that is] getting increasingly digitised—they all constitute an important threat for us."

Separately, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu arrived in New Delhi to participate in the meeting.

The summit continues in the national capital, with delegates reviewing joint frameworks on counter-terrorism and securing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to establish a more resilient, multipolar security model.